American Politics Thread V: We're Just Biden Our Time ...

[Kowani]

How does this work lmao?

I imagine it would work much like the Speaker in the UK House of Commons does: they preside over meetings, but do not vote (well, in the case of the Commons, they vote in the event of a tie, according to a particular convention that amounts to "vote for the status quo or more debate").

there's a bit more

Presides over the House: Much as the vice president is the presiding officer of the Senate, the Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the House. They oversee the daily business of the chamber and enforce proper decorum and House rules. When the Speaker is not presiding on the House floor, a Speaker Pro Tempore takes their place. This is a common occurrence in the U.S. Capitol, given the many demands on the Speaker's time.
Oversees House staff: The Speaker appoints and oversees various non-elected staff in the House of Representatives. This includes the parliamentarian, the historian, the general counsel, the inspector general, the sergeant-at-arms, the clerk, the chief administrative officer, and the House chaplain.
Sets voting agendas: The Speaker of the House controls the voting schedule in the chamber. They coordinate with other party leaders in the Senate and (when applicable) the White House to shepherd legislation through the congress.
Provides political leadership: In addition to its administrative duties, the speakership comes with political responsibilities. Speakers of the House serve as the leaders of their own parties. As party leaders, they dole out assignments to conference committees and select committees. Senior members are offered chairs of House committees, which are some of the most powerful positions in the chamber.

[The Reformed American Republic]

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) says Trump wants to be Speaker of the House

Can you be Speaker the House from prison ? I guess it's written nowhere it's forbidden...

Can the Dems keep the House?

[San Lumen]

Also, Biden's dog, Champ, just died

May he enjoy the great meadow in the sky at the rainbow bridge

[Kilobugya]

Can you be Speaker the House from prison ? I guess it's written nowhere it's forbidden...

Can the Dems keep the House?

The Dems will likely get a majority of the votes. But between gerrymandering and voter suppression, it's not sure it'll be enough for them to keep the House. I guess it'll depend of turnout, and how much Biden manages to accomplish... I fear with Manchin and Sinema blocking any major legislation, Democratic voters will be disappointed and stay home... but I hope to be wrong on that.

[San Lumen]

Can the Dems keep the House?

The Dems will likely get a majority of the votes. But between gerrymandering and voter suppression, it's not sure it'll be enough for them to keep the House. I guess it'll depend of turnout, and how much Biden manages to accomplish... I fear with Manchin and Sinema blocking any major legislation, Democratic voters will be disappointed and stay home... but I hope to be wrong on that.

If Trump says he’s running for Congress with the intent of being speaker that will drive up turnout.

[Alcala-Cordel]

No, it's pretty much the worst possible outcome. It's 'company town' on a national scale, and once it happens, it takes revolution to get out.

The only way it can work is if the rental properties are public, and there are independent private watchdogs. Anything else just turns into for-profit monopoly.

You’re acting like all landlord want to kick people out on the street. Plus, how can it be a monopoly when they’re are multiple different landlords? They are responding to market demand. Millennials and generation Z don’t really care about homeownership. They want to rent, and the market is responding.

We don't want to rent, we have to rent because houses are really expensive

[Alcala-Cordel]

Biden's new anti-terror strategy includes people opposed to capitalism and corporate globalization, just in time for the upcoming mass wave of evictions at the hands of capitalists that still seems set to happen at the end of the month.

He's still a socialist though : )

Key word: "Violently oppose".

Another key component of the threat comes from anti–government or anti–authority violent extremists. This significant component of today’s threat includes self–proclaimed “militias” and militia violent extremists who take steps to violently resist government authority or facilitate the overthrow of the U.S. Government based on perceived overreach; anarchist violent extremists, who violently oppose all forms of capitalism, corporate globalization, and governing institutions, which they perceive as harmful to society;

I don't think Biden is gonna hunt down your average Twitter anarchist or some rando communists on obscure forums. Nonetheless, he affirms the right to different opinions anyway, below:

Furthermore, we will focus specifically on violence and factors which contribute to it while respecting civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy protections, and while recognizing and maximizing the positive benefits of modern communications technologies such as the Internet. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as other U.S. law, protects a wide range of expression – even expression that many might disagree with or find abhorrent, and even expression that certain foreign allies and partners of the United States prohibit and criminalize under their own laws. Ours is a distinctively American tradition of robust speech; and it is a tradition we cherish. Violence and its incitement, however, are generally neither tolerated nor protected; indeed, violence is generally criminal, as are incitement to imminent violence
and true threats of violence. This Strategy focuses specifically on unlawful violence that poses a threat to public safety, to national security, and to the genuine free expression of ideas – indeed, to our democracy. Our country and its laws leave wide open the space for political and ideological views and their articulation, including through peaceful protest. But they leave no room for unlawful violence. This Strategy is designed to preserve the former while preventing the latter. (p. 12, 13)

So pardon my skepticism, but I believe that Biden is making an effort to create a distinction between peaceful protests and violent terrorism here. What the actual application will look like, however, is a different topic.

Riiiiight, because the government has never said this kinda thing before but taken "preemptive measures"...

[Kowani]

the election purge continues!

Lonnie Hollis has been a member of the Troup County election board in West Georgia since 2013. A Democrat and one of two Black women on the board, she has advocated Sunday voting, helped voters on Election Days and pushed for a new precinct location at a Black church in a nearby town.

But this year, Ms. Hollis will be removed from the board, the result of a local election law signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican. Previously, election board members were selected by both political parties, county commissioners and the three biggest municipalities in Troup County. Now, the G.O.P.-controlled county commission has the sole authority to restructure the board and appoint all the new members.

“I speak out and I know the laws,” Ms. Hollis said in an interview. “The bottom line is they don’t like people that have some type of intelligence and know what they’re doing, because they know they can’t influence them.”

Ms. Hollis is not alone. Across Georgia, members of at least 10 county election boards have been removed, had their position eliminated or are likely to be kicked off through local ordinances or new laws passed by the state legislature. At least five are people of color and most are Democrats — though some are Republicans — and they will most likely all be replaced by Republicans. Ms. Hollis and local officials like her have been some of the earliest casualties as Republican-led legislatures mount an expansive takeover of election administration in a raft of new voting bills this year.

G.O.P. lawmakers have also stripped secretaries of state of their power, asserted more control over state election boards, made it easier to overturn election results, and pursued several partisan audits and inspections of 2020 results. Republican state lawmakers have introduced at least 216 bills in 41 states to give legislatures more power over elections officials, according to the States United Democracy Center, a new bipartisan organization that aims to protect democratic norms. Of those, 24 have been enacted into law across 14 states.

G.O.P. lawmakers in Georgia say the new measures are meant to improve the performance of local boards, and reduce the influence of the political parties. But the laws allow Republicans to remove local officials they don’t like, and because several of them have been Black Democrats, voting rights groups fear that these are further attempts to disenfranchise voters of color.

The maneuvers risk eroding some of the core checks that stood as a bulwark against former President Donald J. Trump as he sought to subvert the 2020 election results. Had these bills been in place during the aftermath of the election, Democrats say, they would have significantly added to the turmoil Mr. Trump and his allies wrought by trying to overturn the outcome. They worry that proponents of Mr. Trump’s conspiracy theories will soon have much greater control over the levers of the American elections system.

“It’s a thinly veiled attempt to wrest control from officials who oversaw one of the most secure elections in our history and put it in the hands of bad actors,” said Jena Griswold, the chairwoman of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and the current Colorado secretary of state. “The risk is the destruction of democracy.”

Officials like Ms. Hollis are responsible for decisions like selecting drop box and precinct locations, sending out voter notices, establishing early voting hours and certifying elections. But the new laws are targeting high-level state officials as well, in particular secretaries of state — both Republican and Democratic — who stood up to Mr. Trump and his allies last year.

Republicans in Arizona have introduced a bill that would largely strip Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state, of her authority over election lawsuits, and then expire when she leaves office. And they have introduced another bill that would give the Legislature more power over setting the guidelines for election administration, a major task currently carried out by the secretary of state. Under Georgia’s new voting law, Republicans significantly weakened the secretary of state’s office after Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who is the current secretary, rebuffed Mr. Trump’s demands to “find” votes. They removed the secretary of state as the chair of the state election board and relieved the office of its voting authority on the board.

Kansas Republicans in May overrode a veto from Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, to enact laws stripping the governor of the power to modify election laws and prohibiting the secretary of state, a Republican who repeatedly vouched for the security of voting by mail, from settling election-related lawsuits without the Legislature’s consent.

And more Republicans who cling to Mr. Trump’s election lies are running for secretary of state, putting a critical office within reach of conspiracy theorists. In Georgia, Representative Jody Hice, a Republican who voted against certifying President Biden’s victory, is running against Mr. Raffensperger. Republican candidates with similar views are running for secretary of state in Nevada, Arizona and Michigan. “In virtually every state, every election administrator is going to feel like they’re under the magnifying glass,” said Victoria Bassetti, a senior adviser to the States United Democracy Center.

More immediately, it is local election officials at the county and municipal level who are being either removed or stripped of their power.

In Arkansas, Republicans were stung last year when Jim Sorvillo, a three-term state representative from Little Rock, lost re-election by 24 votes to Ashley Hudson, a Democrat and local lawyer. Elections officials in Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock, were later found to have accidentally tabulated 327 absentee ballots during the vote-counting process, 27 of which came from the district.

Mr. Sorvillo filed multiple lawsuits aiming to stop Ms. Hudson from being seated, and all were rejected. The Republican caucus considered refusing to seat Ms. Hudson, then ultimately voted to accept her.

But last month, Arkansas Republicans wrote new legislation that allows a state board of election commissioners — composed of six Republicans and one Democrat — to investigate and “institute corrective action” on a wide variety of issues at every stage of the voting process, from registration to the casting and counting of ballots to the certification of elections. The law applies to all counties, but it is widely believed to be aimed at Pulaski, one of the few in the state that favor Democrats.

The author of the legislation, State Representative Mark Lowery, a Republican from a suburb of Little Rock, said it was necessary to remove election power from the local authorities, who in Pulaski County are Democrats, because otherwise Republicans could not get a fair shake. “Without this legislation, the only entity you could have referred impropriety to is the prosecuting attorney, who is a Democrat, and possibly not had anything done,” Mr. Lowery said in an interview. “This gives another level of investigative authority to a board that is commissioned by the state to oversee elections.”

Asked about last year’s election, Mr. Lowery said, “I do believe Donald Trump was elected president.”

A separate new Arkansas law allows a state board to “take over and conduct elections” in a county if a committee of the legislature determines that there are questions about the “appearance of an equal, free and impartial election.”

In Georgia, the legislature passed a unique law for some counties. For Troup County, State Representative Randy Nix, a Republican, said he had introduced the bill that restructured the county election board — and will remove Ms. Hollis — only after it was requested by county commissioners. He said he was not worried that the commission, a partisan body with four Republicans and one Democrat, could exert influence over elections.

“The commissioners are all elected officials and will face the voters to answer for their actions,” Mr. Nix said in an email.

Eric Mosley, the county manager for Troup County, which Mr. Trump carried by 22 points, said that the decision to ask Mr. Nix for the bill was meant to make the board more bipartisan. It was unanimously supported by the commission.

“We felt that removing both the Republican and Democratic representation and just truly choose members of the community that invest hard to serve those community members was the true intent of the board,” Mr. Mosley said. “Our goal is to create both political and racial diversity on the board.”

In Morgan County, east of Atlanta, Helen Butler has been one of the state’s most prominent Democratic voices on voting rights and election administration. A member of the county board of elections in a rural, Republican county, she also runs the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a group dedicated to protecting the voting rights of Black Americans and increasing their civic engagement. But Ms. Butler will be removed from the county board at the end of the month, after Mr. Kemp signed a local bill that ended the ability of political parties to appoint members.

“I think it’s all a part of the ploy for the takeover of local boards of elections that the state legislature has put in place,” Ms. Butler said. “It is them saying that they have the right to say whether an election official is doing it right, when in fact they don’t work in the day to day and don’t understand the process themselves.”

It’s not just Democrats who are being removed. In DeKalb County, the state’s fourth-largest, Republicans chose not to renominate Baoky Vu to the election board after more than 12 years in the position. Mr. Vu, a Republican, had joined with Democrats in a letter opposing an election-related bill that eventually failed to pass.

To replace Mr. Vu, Republicans nominated Paul Maner, a well-known local conservative with a history of false statements, including an insinuation that the son of a Georgia congresswoman was killed in “a drug deal gone bad.”

Back in LaGrange, Ms. Hollis is trying to do as much as she can in the time she has left on the board. The extra precinct in nearby Hogansville, where the population is roughly 50 percent Black, is a top priority. While its population is only about 3,000, the town is bifurcated by a rail line, and Ms. Hollis said that sometimes it can take an exceedingly long time for a line of freight cars to clear, which is problematic on Election Days.

“We’ve been working on this for over a year,” Ms. Hollis said, saying Republicans had thrown up procedural hurdles to block the process. But she was undeterred.

“I’m not going to sit there and wait for you to tell me what it is that I should do for the voters there,” she said. “I’m going to do the right thing.”

[Ifreann]

You’re acting like all landlord want to kick people out on the street. Plus, how can it be a monopoly when they’re are multiple different landlords? They are responding to market demand. Millennials and generation Z don’t really care about homeownership. They want to rent, and the market is responding.

We don't want to rent, we have to rent because houses are really expensive

"What if, instead of paying for a house once and then owning it forever, you pay for a house forever and never own it?"
"Wow, sounds great! Sign me up!"

[Greater Miami Shores]

We don't want to rent, we have to rent because houses are really expensive

"What if, instead of paying for a house once and then owning it forever, you pay for a house forever and never own it?"
"Wow, sounds great! Sign me up!"

My house is bought and paid $ for, I own two rental properties, so far I have not had any problems with the tenants paying their rents $ due to the virus crisis, if it happens I will try to work with them on it.

[Fauzjhia]

the election purge continues!

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

[Greater Miami Shores]

the election purge continues!

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

lol, that is what the Republican say about the Democrats in reverse, they are power hungry, these are the real reasons the Republicans are passing election reform laws, which the leftists and anti Trump Persons misinterpret, helped by the Biased, Partisan, Pro Democrats, Anti Republicans, leftist Media, and the Biased, Partisan, anti Republicans, leftist, Liberal, Progressive, Democrat Party, no matter what you guys, say, post or link too. Take it from me a Republican, not that I expect you guys to believe me and us on any issues, we say, post or link too.

[Lady Victory]

the election purge continues!

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

The GOP loves projecting it's crimes onto it's critics and opponents. It's best to just assume by default that if a Republican accuses a Democrat or something, the Republican probably did it first.

[Sincluda]

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

lol, that is what the Republican say about the Democrats in reverse, they are power hungry, these are the real reasons the Republicans are passing election reform laws, which the leftists and anti Trump Persons misinterpret, helped by the Biased, Partisan, Pro Democrats, Anti Republicans, leftist Media, and the Biased, Partisan, anti Republicans, leftist, Liberal, Progressive, Democrat Party, no matter what you guys, say, post or link too. Take it from me a Republican, not that I expect you guys to believe me and us on any issues, we say, post or link too.

wait, so what power grab laws are the left signing and why is the answer more power grab laws? Sounds like a dictatorship race that (thankfully) doesn’t exist

[The Reformed American Republic]

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

The GOP loves projecting it's crimes onto it's critics and opponents. It's best to just assume by default that if a Republican accuses a Democrat or something, the Republican probably did it first.

This ^^

[Neanderthaland]

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

The GOP loves projecting it's crimes onto it's critics and opponents. It's best to just assume by default that if a Republican accuses a Democrat or something, the Republican probably did it first.

Yep. Accusations are confessions.

[San Lumen]

I guess this, somehow is not a power grab by the GOP... no, only democrat can do power grabs....

lol, that is what the Republican say about the Democrats in reverse, they are power hungry, these are the real reasons the Republicans are passing election reform laws, which the leftists and anti Trump Persons misinterpret, helped by the Biased, Partisan, Pro Democrats, Anti Republicans, leftist Media, and the Biased, Partisan, anti Republicans, leftist, Liberal, Progressive, Democrat Party, no matter what you guys, say, post or link too. Take it from me a Republican, not that I expect you guys to believe me and us on any issues, we say, post or link too.

Still waiting for your concrete evidence of fraud.

[Greater Miami Shores]

lol, that is what the Republican say about the Democrats in reverse, they are power hungry, these are the real reasons the Republicans are passing election reform laws, which the leftists and anti Trump Persons misinterpret, helped by the Biased, Partisan, Pro Democrats, Anti Republicans, leftist Media, and the Biased, Partisan, anti Republicans, leftist, Liberal, Progressive, Democrat Party, no matter what you guys, say, post or link too. Take it from me a Republican, not that I expect you guys to believe me and us on any issues, we say, post or link too.

wait, so what power grab laws are the left signing and why is the answer more power grab laws? Sounds like a dictatorship race that (thankfully) doesn’t exist

First begin with the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania changing election laws to favor the Democrats, agree by the US Supreme Court when it was divided 4 to 4. Second the massive Democrat vote fraud in the 2016 elections against Republican President Trump, third, the Democrats and the Leftist media, trying to silence Republicans true cancel culture, so on and so on. Another reasons the Republicans are passing election reform laws, which you guys misinterpret as I describe in details on my post above and they strongly agree with me on it, and strongly disagree with you guys on it.

[Greater Miami Shores]

The GOP loves projecting it's crimes onto it's critics and opponents. It's best to just assume by default that if a Republican accuses a Democrat or something, the Republican probably did it first.

Yep. Accusations are confessions.

lol, the Democrats love projecting it's Crimes onto it's critics and opponents too, in reverse. We strongly agree with each other on it. I am not the only one who strongly agrees with me on it.

[Page]

Cool how Juneteenth is now an official holiday and the government showed how much they care by establishing Medicare for All to help black people who are most marginalized by the health care system, legalized weed to put an end to racist enforcement, and taxed billionaires to uplift the people of color who are still suffering the wealth disparity that has persisted since the end of slavery.

Wait, I was wrong, it's just the holiday, none of those other things.

Can't wait for suicide prevention week where my social media timeline will be covered by people talking about "awareness" and not the leading cause of suicide, capitalism!

[Heloin]

lol, that is what the Republican say about the Democrats in reverse, they are power hungry, these are the real reasons the Republicans are passing election reform laws, which the leftists and anti Trump Persons misinterpret, helped by the Biased, Partisan, Pro Democrats, Anti Republicans, leftist Media, and the Biased, Partisan, anti Republicans, leftist, Liberal, Progressive, Democrat Party, no matter what you guys, say, post or link too. Take it from me a Republican, not that I expect you guys to believe me and us on any issues, we say, post or link too.

Still waiting for your concrete evidence of fraud.

Since when has GMS ever cared about trivialities like "facts" or "evidence" when it's so much easier to spam Trumpist slogans while calling for the destruction of democracy and its replacement with a dictatorship.

[Neanderthaland]

Yep. Accusations are confessions.

lol, the Democrats love projecting it's Crimes onto it's critics and opponents too, in reverse. We strongly agree with each other on it. I am not the only one who strongly agrees with me on it.

Lol, I'm having a lol attack

In seriousness no. Stop it. You're making yourself look silly.

[Heloin]

Cool how Juneteenth is now an official holiday and the government showed how much they care by establishing Medicare for All to help black people who are most marginalized by the health care system, legalized weed to put an end to racist enforcement, and taxed billionaires to uplift the people of color who are still suffering the wealth disparity that has persisted since the end of slavery.

Wait, I was wrong, it's just the holiday, none of those other things.

Can't wait for suicide prevention week where my social media timeline will be covered by people talking about "awareness" and not the leading cause of suicide, capitalism!

If they could make the whole week a Federal holiday I would enjoy the week long vacation.

[Greater Miami Shores]

Cool how Juneteenth is now an official holiday and the government showed how much they care by establishing Medicare for All to help black people who are most marginalized by the health care system, legalized weed to put an end to racist enforcement, and taxed billionaires to uplift the people of color who are still suffering the wealth disparity that has persisted since the end of slavery.

Wait, I was wrong, it's just the holiday, none of those other things.

Can't wait for suicide prevention week where my social media timeline will be covered by people talking about "awareness" and not the leading cause of suicide, capitalism!

Capitalism the leading cause of suicide of Americans, good one.

[Neanderthaland]

Cool how Juneteenth is now an official holiday and the government showed how much they care by establishing Medicare for All to help black people who are most marginalized by the health care system, legalized weed to put an end to racist enforcement, and taxed billionaires to uplift the people of color who are still suffering the wealth disparity that has persisted since the end of slavery.

Wait, I was wrong, it's just the holiday, none of those other things.

Can't wait for suicide prevention week where my social media timeline will be covered by people talking about "awareness" and not the leading cause of suicide, capitalism!

Well at least we'll probably get some corporate sales out of it.

"In celebration of Juneteenth, all new mattresses are 3/5ths off!"